If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to the DSF Forum!
If you have any issues with the forum, please let me know by emailing admin@dyesubforum.co.uk You can close these messages by clicking on the X to the right hand side

New 'Subli-Versa' versatile sublimation paper - testing :)

We wanted to share the testing phases of one of our new product lines; Subli-Versa all-purpose / versatile sublimation paper. We currently supply 2 sublimation papers for either hard or soft surface substrates: Subli-Style for hard substrates (ceramic, metal etc) and Subli-Fabric for soft substrates and fabrics.

Although both are great in their own right we always wanted a paper that would sit somewhere in the middle to offer users the ability to produce any product with just one paper.

Granted, our current papers were each made for their specific job so having one that covered both jobs would mean having a little compromise when printing on to all substrates.

We will not be discontinuing any of our current lines, just adding another paper to our range.

One of the reasons we having been looking an all-purpose paper is recently with the hot weather we have been having our Subli-Fabric paper has been causing issues for users where the air temperature has been causing it to curl or wick quite badly. Meaning it would catch the printing head as the printer printed marking the paper. This is due to the high release coating and high moisture content this particular paper has.

So, the specs for the new paper would be-
- High ink release (75%+ ideally)
- Light weight media - to minimise wear on printers paper feeds
- Distinguishable printable side - ideally water marked on the reverse
- Lay flat / curl resistant
- Ability to be used on both hard and soft substrates
- Coating does not get marked by the pin wheel rollers on Epson printers (pizza cutter marks)

As with everything we do we obtained as many samples as possible and began testing them to find a media that ticked all our requirement boxes.

We got down from 7 papers to just 3 papers before I started to photograph the testing phases.

Each of the final 3 papers had a watermarked reverse so its easy to know which side to print on to-

On to testing, we wanted to test the papers on a range of printers as well as a wide range of substrates to see how they all fared. The first issue we noted was one of the papers (yellow backed) was easily marked by the pin wheel (pizza cutter) rollers on an Epson Ecotank printer-

The first substrate test was on to aluminium sheets; we found one of the papers printed quite blurred (potentially due to the high release coating), on fabrics this is not too much of an issue as the weave of the fabric can 'hide' these types of imperfections in the print. However on aluminium there is no hiding this.

This was the 'patchy', blurred issue we found with one of the papers-

Note the difference produced from one of the other papers on the same aluminium sheet pressed at the same time-

The next substrate to test was a polycotton t-shirt from Xpres, all the papers produced a good transfer on this substrate-

Next was a linen make-up bag / pouch. Being a thick weave and very porous fabric these can often look quite faded when sublimated on to so a good high release of ink of the paper is required for these. Again all 3 tested very well on this substrate-

Last was the staple of sublimation.. the mug. Our Subli-Fabric paper often releases too much ink and / or the ink does not dry immediately so can make wrapping around the mug tricky if you need to re-position. So we were looking for the paper to be instant or fast drying (less than 10 seconds from being printed)

By this point, one of the papers was proving to be the most versatile and ticking our requirement boxes. We wanted to test the paper with a large area of solid colour as we often find these areas can look 'patchy' from poor ink release-

We were very pleased by the results, especially on large block areas of black shown below-

So with testing completed, we will be looking to add the 'Subli-Versa' paper to our range. Anyone wishing to try some samples please get it touch and we will happily send some out to you.

Ink Experts ltd. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. | 01902 213533 |To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts..uk10% discount on Sublimation Supplies for Dye Sub Forum Premium Members

It will be available in A4, A3, 99x210mm mug size sheets and hopefully A3+ (A3+ is not yet confirmed) Justin :)

Alex

Ink Experts ltd. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. | 01902 213533 |To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts..uk10% discount on Sublimation Supplies for Dye Sub Forum Premium Members

Potentially, we are looking to introduce rolls to our complete range of papers including this one. Most likely will be 17", 24", 44" rolls.

Alex

Ink Experts ltd. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. | 01902 213533 |To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts..uk10% discount on Sublimation Supplies for Dye Sub Forum Premium Members